Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [22]
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Metro LA has the world’s third-largest Jewish population, after New York and Tel Aviv.
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ECONOMY
Even when the US economy is in recession, SoCal generally does all right. What LA lacks in large corporations (with fewer Fortune 500 headquarters than Richmond, VA or Charlotte, NC), it makes up for with diversity. Drivers of the SoCal economy include international trade (LA and Long Beach form the nation’s largest port), technology, finance, film and TV production, health services, apparel design, furniture design and higher education.
SoCal’s biggest industry, though, is tourism. Visitors are drawn by the weather, international connections at Los Angeles International Airport and the beaches, theme parks and, increasingly, culture. It’s also a year-round destination for conventions, particularly big business in San Diego.
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Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers are (in)famous for leaving during the 8th inning in order to beat the traffic exiting Dodger Stadium.
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SPORTS
2008 marks 50 years since the Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers, and New Yorkers have never quite forgiven LA. Angelenos, meanwhile, have made the Dodgers their own. Ringed by hills, Dodger Stadium is one of the most beautiful in baseball, while San Diego’s new PETCO Park comes up a close second. Another team to keep an eye out for is the World Series 2002 winner and still-successful Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Be sure to leave extra time to get downtown at the time of Dodger games and when the LA Lakers basketball team plays at Staples Center; for the latter you’ll have to jostle for freeway space with famous fans including Jack Nicholson, Tobey Maguire and Snoop Dogg. The Lakers, in LA since 1967, have a storied history that includes players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. LA’s other NBA team is the Clippers, typically also-rans in the standings as well as in the city’s heart. The LA Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) have been perennial league leaders, featuring their star player Lisa Leslie.
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RUNAWAY PRODUCTION
Film and TV production is big business in LA County, bringing in an estimated $31 billion in revenues and ranking third in employment (some 255,000 people) behind tourism and international trade. There’s a critical mass of studios and talent, and locations around LA often stand in for other cities: Downtown for Midtown Manhattan, Pasadena for the Midwest, etc.
Other localities have caught on, though, and the high cost of filming in LA has sent location scouts looking elsewhere. States such as New Mexico, North Carolina, Louisiana and Connecticut have offered production credits, tax incentives, state-of-the-art facilities (particularly in New Mexico) and, in some cases, nonunionized workforces. And in Canada, film production is welcomed with open arms (and pocketbooks).
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In a saga of money, politics and backroom dealing, LA has been without a National Football League (NFL) team since 1995 (and Angelenos don’t seem to mind watching other cities shell out nearly $1 billion to the NFL for the next franchises). The San Diego Chargers, traditionally bottom-dwellers in the standings, have turned things around with a winning record in recent years. Angelenos, meanwhile, have